MTSU Sidelines

Issue date: 7/9/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Andi Nave A customer texts outside of the Murfreesboro Verizon Wireless store located on Thompson Lane.

Tennessee has been named the 'textiest' state in the Southeast according to the Verizon Wireless "Big City Wireless Use Study."

The Big City Wireless Use Study measures the amount of text messages sent and received per month by Verizon Wireless customers.

"I was a little surprised at the numbers because when you look at the states that are more highly populated like Florida for example, in the Southeast Region," said Carly Culbertson, public relations manager for North and South Carolina and Tennessee regions. "My thought would have been Florida would have come out on top because you have so many cities with really high populations."

Other states also included in the study are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The study shows that a 520 percent increase in text messaging of Verizon customers has been made within 2 years.

Nashville is the number one city in Tennessee with 223,150,538 text messages being sent and received since April 2008.

Culbertson said she's not entirely sure why Tennessee is ranked number one, but associates its text messaging popularity with the majority of the younger generation.

"I know that texting in general has become so popular," Culbertson said. "Initially, it was the youth segment, high school and college age kids growing up in the technology age that quickly embraced text messaging as a fast and fun way to communicate."

In addition to the younger generation using this technology, Culbertson also said that parents get involved when they realize it's a great way to keep in contact with their kids.

Culbertson said that since text messaging is pretty cheap, people began getting package deals and adding text messaging onto their phone plans.

"On a single line a customer can get unlimited text messaging for $20 more than their original phone usage would be," said Hilton Horne, assistant store manager of Verizon Wireless store located in Murfreesboro. "We do also have bundles for small users with picture messages included, as well as video."

Horne said he credits the large sum of text messaging statistics to MTSU's campus as well as many other universities across the state.

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